240 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



than the recent deposits of Missouri river mud, which, in its mechanical struc- 

 ture and chemical composition, it greatly resembles. 



The yellow marl was deposited from the waters of streams or lakes of 

 fresh water which covered the country in front of the ice of the glacial period 

 and which followed the ice as the melting at the southern edge caused its re- 

 treat to the north. It covered the whole of Leavenworth county. It has 

 been eroded from part, but it is the subsoil of the high, rolling prairie and is 

 under the smooth bottom land of Stranger creek. 



As in Kansas the ice came down as far as the south side of the Kaw river 

 and as far west as the Blue, all the valleys of northeastern Kansas, as well 

 as eastern Nebraska and eastern Dakota, were filled, and the great streams 

 of the Missouri, Platte and Kaw were scattered on the western plains, and 

 the loess was deposited at levels up to 1,500 feet. But on the retreat of the 

 ice the drainage that had been stopped began again, and the soft yellow mud 

 that had smoothed over the rugged ravines of the pre-glacial time began 

 to be washed out, and the modern drainage channels were probably estab- 

 lished before the prairie grass obtained its hold or the trees began to grow in 

 the ravines. 



Men lived somewhere near while the loess lakes were in existence. We 

 find their weapons in the loess, and very likely from the first drying up of 

 the land they hindered forest growth by fires. 



The loess in its deposit to a very great extent smoothed over a verj^ rugged 

 country, in some cases adding height to bluffs that would be conspicuous 

 without its aid. The economic value of the loess will appear further on. 



Every valley has in its draws and slopes land that has been made by the 

 material washed by rain and stream from the higher levels. This is called 

 alluvium. The various kinds of alluvia are gravels, sand, clays, gumbo or 

 modifications of these and are sufficiently well known not to need particular 

 description. They are the latest geological product, belonging entirely to the 

 present stage of surface changes. 



ECONOMIC GEOLOGY. 



It will be recognized that many of the facts previously stated have a com- 

 mercial value. I shall now more succinctly put together the economic results 

 of this investigation. 



COAL. 



In the early history of Leavenworth county coal was mined by drifts from 

 several veins of coal near the surface at or near the same geological horizon, 

 at Kickapoo, on Little Stranger creek below Boling, and on Big Stranger 

 near Tonganoxie. The Little Stranger mines were the most numerous and 

 apparently worked most systematically, and thej' supplied coal in considerable 

 quantities until the opening of the Leavenworth deep mine in 1870 shut off 

 their principal market. This seam furnished a large supply to the city and 

 county. Mr. Peet worked it back in the fifties, and Mr. James Orr and Mr. 

 Hyde began later. These persons owned the land, and sometimes mined 

 themselves and sometimes they gave it to others on royalty. As many as 

 12 drifts were made into the side of the bluff, those furthest south being at 

 the level of the coal, four feet above the creek bed. Further north the 

 creek was diverted and several acres at and below the water level were 

 stripped and the coal taken out. Higher up some drifts were made into the 

 bluff sloping down to the coal and the water was dammed out. Mr. Orr sunk 

 a shaft 14 feet and worked chambers to the northwest to a distance of over 



